²⁶ “Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath,

and do not sin”:

The Holy Spirit cautions Christians about the use of valid anger with two qualifications:

“Do not sin.”

“Do not let the sun go down on your wrath.”

It is possible to be angry and not sin. However, if we seek to hurt someone because we are bitter and acting out of spite or malice, then it is “sin.” It is sin because it is subjective rather than objective anger.

PRINCIPLE:

Unrestrained anger is sinful.

APPLICATION:

It is not right to be subjectively angry about people, but it is right to be objectively angry against sin or false teaching, especially egregious social sins such as pedophilia, abortion, or white slavery.

There are then occasions where we can be legitimately angry. There is such a thing as righteous anger. God has that kind of anger. However, there is a danger that even good anger can transition into sinful anger. Well-intended anger can ferment into something ugly—the habit or orientation of being an angry person.

Most anger is self-centered. If we use hostility as a system of communication, then we cause problems in our relationships. It becomes a way of expressing displeasure. It is also a way of punishing others. Anger often gets an angry response. People then sink into hurling vicious cycles of barb against barb. Personal insult and indignation can degenerate into vindictive reactions.

If we persist long enough in subjective anger, it will develop into wrath. Wrath in turn turns into other sins. Wrath then turns into other sins, developing a momentum of sinful anger.

Self-deception is a great danger when we attempt to justify subjective anger. There is a duplicity in thinking that my anger is just, whereas the other person carries a bad attitude. Anger is something wherein we need to keep short accounts. We confess anger as a subjective sin quickly to keep it from forming a pattern in our lives.

Eccl 7: ⁹ Do not hasten in your spirit to be angry, For anger rests in the bosom of fools.

Some people have a low boiling point. They fly off the handle over relatively small issues. Anger is a blockage of a goal. When the other person does not respond like we want, we react in anger. We did not establish goal point that we wished.

Pr 14: ²⁹ He who is slow to wrath has great understanding, But he who is impulsive exalts folly.

Pr 15: ¹⁸ A wrathful man stirs up strife, But he who is slow to anger allays contention.

The person who is quick to anger becomes a trouble maker.

Pr 16: ³² He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, And he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.

A person who controls his anger is a strong person and has superior character.